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The Connecticut plates, which are temporarily unavailable as of last week pending an investigation by the state Department of Motor Vehicles and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, also feature a less incendiary message along the bottom, advertising a Web site, www.fund-adoption.org.
"We are taking applications for the plates and putting them in a pending file based on the advice of our attorney, which is the attorney general," Bill Seymour of the DMV said. Plates that promote certain organizations cost more than standard plates, and some of the funds go to the sponsoring organization.
This story has earned lots of media attention in the last few weeks. There has been coverage in The New York Times, The Hartford Courant and The Boston Globe.
The organization that sponsors the plates, a New York-based charity called Children First, states that it is an adoption promoting group, but the "Choose Life" slogan is a common one in the debate about abortion rights, and the group donates mostly to Catholic and anti-abortion organizations that promote adoption and Safe Havens.
Though the other court cases in the tri-state area are based on First Amendment issues, the problem in Connecticut may be far simpler. In order to be eligible for a special plate, a group must have a base of operations in the state, and there are questions about whether Children First has a headquarters here.
The Choose Life plates were first approved in Connecticut in 2003, but there have been three inquiries into the group's operations and viability in Connecticut since then. The two addresses the group has had on file with the DMV in Connecticut seem to be nothing more than members' homes.
"You need more than a dining room table to have a base of operations," said State Rep. Roberta Willis (D-Salisbury).
Though the Children First foundation's Web site claims that the group has donated more than $10,000 to Connecticut-based, adoption oriented charities in the last three years, 60 percent of that money went to the AMT Children of Hope group. After review of that group's Web site, it is not clear that the Westbury, N.Y.-based charity has done any work in Connecticut, nor does it have an office here.
The first whistle-blower on this issue was Jim Young of Cornwall, who contacted Gov. M. Jodi Rell, State Sen. Andrew Roraback (R-Goshen), Mr. Blumenthal and Ms. Willis, among others, in March.
He was angry about the anti-abortion message the plate seemed to be sending, one he perceived as religious in nature and therefore not allowed by the state's overall guidelines on such issues.
"It's just one more part of this theocracy that this country is slowly heading toward," he said. "I don't think this has a place here. Everyone is skirting the issue that this is a religious statement and it's political ... ."
After filing a few Freedom of Information Act requests with the DMV he realized that the address given for the charity was a private home and that the strictest requirement for receiving approval for a special plate seemed to be that the organization had to have a strong base of operations in Connecticut.
"The simple state statute says you have to have a base of operations in Connecticut. New York is in federal court, New Jersey is in federal court, Arkansas is in federal court-all these people are fighting this First Amendment fight, but we can eliminate this whole thing this way," said Mr. Young. "Sure the reason I want them out of there is because they are a pro life agency. I can't win that fight, but I can win it like this so I'm happy with that."
Those involved have also taken issue with the Children First Charity because it appears to be hiding part of its priorities behind a pro-adoption veneer. "They say that they aren't a pro-life agency, but their funds go to Catholic charities that don't allow abortion as an option. It's smoke and mirrors," claimed Mr. Young.
Ms. Willis also takes issue with the plate's conflicting message. "My understanding is that the messages on our specialty plates are not supposed to be political," she said. "They say they are an adoption group. It is bizarre is that it says 'Fund-Adoption.org' across the bottom of the plate but the symbol, the thing that you would notice, says not 'adopt a child' or 'bring someone into your home' it says 'choose life.' I find their message confusing. Is it choose life or is it adoption? It's not clear by their plate. ... "
It may not be as easy as Mr. Young thinks, though. If Connecticut revokes the "Children First" plates, Dr. Elizabeth Rex, director and co-founder of Children First, has promised to sue the state, just as she has with New York and New Jersey when her organization's plates were denied "unconstitutionally" in her opinion.
Dr. Rex, who has a doctorate in education and runs the five-year-old charity from her Yonkers, N.Y.-home was devastated by the plate's temporary removal.
"We were chugging along, raising about $2,000 a year and we've donated about $6,000 from plate proceeds to pregnancy centers, maternity homes and Safe Haven efforts in Connecticut," she said, referring to organizations where unwanted babies can be dropped off. She claims the AMT Children of Hope organization is a tri-state organization that works in Connecticut, though there is little to no documentation of this. About the base of operations in the state, she noted that the organization's vice president lives in Danbury and four advisory board members live in the state.
Dr. Rex said her group aims to "promote and support adoption as a positive choice and safe havens too." She claims that her organization is "not affiliated with a religious denomination at all," though most of the charities her organization gives to are Christian and do not approve of abortion.
"We focus on promoting strictly adoption," she said. "You walk a fine line, but the organizations that we support serve the needs of children through adoption. Our plate is a pro-adoption plate."
She delves into the science of marketing when discussing why she used the "Choose Life" slogan instead of "Choose Adoption" or something similar. She quotes Russ Amerling, who started the Choose Life plates in Florida, and said of the another logo, "It wouldn't sell." "And he's right. I have an MBA as well as a doctorate, and in Marketing 101 they tell you that one word can make the difference between success and failure," she said.
She noted that one of the most popular plates in our state depicts a cute dog and cat and boasts the message "Caring For Pets." This plate supports Animal Population Control in the state "a group that spays, neuters and euthanizes stray animals. If you put 'Animal Control' on the plate, do you think you would sell more or less of the plates?" she asked.
She did agree that there was a connection between pro-life organizations and adoption charities, though. "You have to choose life in order to choose adoption. You can't adopt a dead baby," she said.
Adoption lies close to Dr. Rex's heart. She and her husband, Charles Rex, a violinist with the New York Philharmonic, married late in life and feared they couldn't have biological children. They decided to adopt two children and also had one biologically, explained the former director of admissions at Columbia University and Barnard College.
"In a review of the Department of Motor Vehicle's Web site, they are the only organization to receive a special license plate that doesn't have a Connecticut address" Ms. Willis said.
State Rep. David A. Scribner (R-Brookfield), a Ranking Member of the state Transportation Committee, concurred that the phone number on file with the DMV for the charity is a New York number.
Mr. Blumenthal said, "The question about this group, as about others, is whether they have a sufficient presence in the state as measured by their level of activity and base of operations or headquarters. The questions have nothing to do with their mission or methods, the judgment will be made solely on the basis on whether they have sufficient activity here."
He also noted that there are no guidelines as to what sort of group can sponsor a plate, and said, "Any group can qualify without regard to its purpose or message."
Mr. Seymour said of the DMV's regulations, "The legend of the organization and its emblem cannot be obscene, [cannot] promote advertise or endorse a product brand or service provided for sale, and [cannot] promote any specific religious beliefs." He also noted that an organization whose primary concern is to advertise or promote commerce is not eligible. Ms. Willis said her first reaction to learning about these plates was that it must be a mistake.
"I was not aware that we had them. I didn't know that they were featured on our state Web site, either," she said. "That started the process for me ... . That's when I started looking into who [Children First] were and where they were based. I found out that they were not a Connecticut organization," she said.
More red flags were raised to the representative when she found difficulty finding the group's address and a phone call to Dr. Rex resulted in being told to ask the DMV for the information. "That sounded strange to me. All the not-for-profits I'm involved with love giving out our addresses so people can send us money-that's the whole point of having a plate-to advertise your organization. They didn't want to give me their address. ... ."
State lawmakers are recoiling from the possibility of a First Amendment court battle and hope to have a decision promptly. If they decide to revoke the plate, there is little chance of avoiding a lengthy and possibly expensive lawsuit with Children First. "The work we do is not negligible, especially when a baby can be saved from a trash can or a dumpster. You can't put a price on that," said Dr. Rex.
